New Yunus Emre poems discovered

KIRŞEHİR - Anatolia News Agency

The professor has discovered unseen poems by Yunus Emre in manuscripts bought from old book stores.AA photo

A total of 17 unpublished poems by Yunus Emre, a historical Turkish writer, have been found in Kırşehir. Speaking to Anatolia news agency, Ahi Evran University Turkish Literature academic Mehmet Fatih Köksal said he had bought several books from old book stores in Istanbul and some of them were manuscripts. When he returned to Kırşehir, Köksal analyzed the books and realized that some of these books were by Emre. He then started to analyze the poems by Emre.

As he copied the poems, he realized that anthology books did not contain them, Köksal said. “I have read the anthology books of Yunus Emre several times, and I compared those poems with the ones in the books.” Köksal determined that the poems had never been seen before and that they were from the 17th century. 

“The poems are original and beautiful,” he said, adding that the style and the language match Emre.

“This is a very important discovery.” There are more than 200 poems in the book, and there may be other poems that have never been published from Anatolia, he said.